National Coming Out Day

by Bricen Peinado

National Coming Out Day is an annual event on October 11th to celebrate the pride movement as a whole. There are often a lot of people uneducated about National Coming Out Day, they might ask these following questions. Where did it come from? What does it mean? What did Newfield High School do to celebrate it this year?

National Coming Out Day started in 1988. It is specifically celebrated on October 11th to commemorate the 1987 March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. This march took place during an era of prevalent homophobia due to the accusations of AIDS being a “gay disease.” Many members of the march were dying due to AIDS at the time, yet still went out of their way to participate in the act of civil disobedience. There were hundreds of thousands of people there hoping to get more funding for AIDS patients and to make Americans see their fellow citizens who were also gay, as people who have the same human rights as them. Two of the march’s leaders were actress Whoopi Goldberg and Latino civil rights activist Ceasar Chavez. Civil Rights activists across the country came together to fight for LQBTQIA+ rights that day.

National Coming Out Day is a day where members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and straight allies alike, can support and celebrate people who are closeted, are coming out, and have come out. It is meant to encourage people to embrace who they are and share their stories like so many people did that day in 1987.

When asked what National Coming Out Day meant to the community, the co-advisor of the LGBTQ+ Alliance club stated “It symbolizes a task that for most people isn't easy and creates support for people allowing them to be comfortable. ” To celebrate National Coming Out Day, the LGBTQ+ Alliance club at Newfield put out pride and trans ribbons in the main hallway and in the music rooms for people to wear and show support to the LGBTQ+ Alliance.